Outgoing TN Gov. Petitions For Federal Designation To Protect 67,000 Acres Of Mountains From Mining

[hatrack]

Op-Ed.

Outgoing Gov. Phil Bredesen has offered Tennessee residents and visitors a gift - the potential protection of 67,000 acres of ridge tops in the Cumberland Mountains from mountaintop coal mining.

Bredesen, a Democrat who couldn't run for re-election because of term limits, petitioned the U.S. Office of Surface Mining to designate a network of ridge tops in state-managed lands covering parts of four counties to be "lands unsuitable for surface mining." The designation would prevent coal companies from engaging in controversial mountaintop mining techniques in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area and the Emory River Tracts Conservation Easement.

Bredesen's landmark petition - it's the first time the state has sought to protect natural resources through the designation - asserts that mountaintop mining is incompatible with the state's land-use plans and would damage the environment in portions of Anderson, Scott, Morgan and Campbell counties. He's right - Tennessee's mountaintops are more valuable than the thin coal seams they harbor underground. The Office of Surface Mining should grant the designation, though the process, which includes opportunities for public input, will take time.

The petition asks the Office of Surface Mining to bar coal mining 600 feet on either side of ridge tops throughout the 170,606 acres of protected land. "What this does is prevent mountaintop removal," said Don Barger, regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association, a supporter of the petition.

EDIT

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/oct/07/bredesen-takes-stand-against-mountaintop-mining/

[kristopher]

1. Good for him.

And everyone else.